Brian Cushing claims he took no banned substances

In a stunning press conference that showed defiance and denial rather than remorse or contrition, Texans linebacker Brian Cushing flatly denied on Thursday taking any substance banned by the NFL.

It’s a far cry from conceding that he took a non-steroidal substance. He’s basically saying he took nothing, and that the NFL is wrong.

Cushing confirmed that he tested positive for hCG, and he expressed concern that, if it showed up in impermissible levels without him taking hCG once, it could happen again. At one point, he said that doctors are looking into “why it would keep reoccurring,” ignoring the fact that, in multiple tests since September, it apparently hasn’t reoccurred.

Cushing claims that he initially feared that he had a tumor after learning of the positive test in October, and that he spent the balance of the 2009 season fearful that he might die. (Seriously. He said that. And no one asked whether he had an MRI or other medical tests that detect the presence of, you know, tumors.)

He expressed on several occasions that he plans to “respect the process of the NFL,” but he has shown no respect for the process by publicly refuting it. His position reconfirms our belief that, once a player’s suspension has been finalized, all confidentiality should be waived and the league should be able to put all relevant information on the table.

As it currently stands, the league imposes the suspension, and then the player can say whatever he wants. Including the PED version of “it wasn’t me.”

Finally, one of the reporters flat-out asked Cushing what he thought about our suggestion that he should decline the AP defensive rookie of the year award.

90 responses to “Brian Cushing claims he took no banned substances”

He’s either right or he’s mentally deranged.
I’m betting he’s right. It’s about time the NFL testing process was exposed for what it is: an amateurish sham. What else can you call a system that bans Sudafed and not HGH? Or says a guy tested positive for hCG but not the roids that he’s supposedly taking the hCG to balance out?
I bet the “backlash” “journalists” ramp up their hypocritical rhetoric another notch.

Wow, I blame it on the Vikings and the William sisters who basically didn’t want to face any consequences either.
I can’t wait to see if he is half the linebacker without the juice, my bet is that he is a shell of his former roid-ed self.

Be careful Brian, the idiot Goodell doesn’t care what you do or say or even if you are innocent. He will suspend you for taking vitamins or getting caught stealing a paperclip from the 7-11. Unless you are Ray Lewis, then you can do whatever you want.

Once I got Cush on the phone, he tells me he’s shocked at what’s happening, but assures me he didn’t fail for steroids. I believe him. Sure enough, the next day the term “steroids” has been replaced with “PED”…BIG DIFFERENCE. Yet, ESPN never issued any official retraction statement. Apparently, they don’t think there’s any difference between anabolic steroids and a category that’s so big (and vague), it includes friggin’ cough medicine!?!?http://www.defrancostraining.com/ask-joe.html

………..or, he’s telling the truth. I guess it’s become such a foreign concept in the world of sports no one even bothers to consider it anymore.
If someone opens up about all their “zeros” just tell them you’re put your “zeros” to work on the website……there’s Rosenthal…there’s Smith…Silva….

it’s a generational thing, i’m only 27 but kids younger than me just aren’t sensible anymore (*cough Lebron James) … very different situation but that last response sounds to me exactly like my little cousin when i told him he couldn’t put his created, 99-rated QB in the game when we played Madden lmao. “how come?”

dont people get that if you just admit your problem, say sorry and let it go it will all blow over?
but nope, he has to get all uppity about it! Put on your big boy pants Barry Cushing, you got caught!!!

Maybe the guy really is innocent?? When a public figure is accused of wrong-doing, the pundits typically say “If he was innocent he’d be screaming from the rooftops.” Well, Cushing took a lie detector test and passed, and now he’s screaming from the rooftops, so to speak. He’s either got massive stones or there’s been a mistake with the tests.

Goodell knows the results of Cushing’s test … I don’t care what you say.
And he WILL address Cushing’s denial if it’s an outright lie.
Wait & see what happens … other than 27 more Cush posts on this blog.

# jdo says: May 13, 2010 2:29 PM
Be careful Brian, the idiot Goodell doesn’t care what you do or say or even if you are innocent. He will suspend you for taking vitamins or getting caught stealing a paperclip from the 7-11. Unless you are Ray Lewis, then you can do whatever you want.
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You forget about Eric Foster, Rey Maualuga, Vincent Jackson, Ronnie Brown, Shaun Rodgers, ….etc

I’d say this caused more damage to the NFL shield than anything Ben Roethlisberger did. You got a dude failing a steroid test, then basically saying the NFL’s testing is a sham. Now people are in doubt if the NFL is clean or not and it’s obviously the sport where steroids would give the most bang for the buck.
Goodell should give him 8 games.

All you kids talking about how surely Cush will “drop off” dramatically and flame out like Merriman aren’t really thinking very well.
The positive test for minimal (so minimal this would not have been considered an infraction only a year or so ago) levels of hCG occurred in September. He then repeatedly tested clean throughout the season.
Which means he was playing the season clean.
No excuses for whatever he did do, if in fact he did take some form of PED, but he played the year clean, as himself.

Florio you should grow up and show a little professionalism when you have a conflict with a player. You have had a problem with Steve Smith in Carolina and took shots at him about punching a team mate in every unrelated article you’ve written about him for the past 2 years. Now this personal dispute about his comments and Jimmy Clausen has come up and you just can’t seem to let it go by attaching it to a story that has nothing to do with Cushing’s press conference. Not being able to let your personal differences go is simply immature and tiresome. I enjoy reading your blog but you really lose credibility on serious topics like steroid abuse when you use something this important as a platform to get in a dig about a player you apparently have issues with. You can stand by your story and your sources without the personal venom and commentary.

Jimmy Smith
did you know the Packers drafted Randall Woodfield, who eventually went on to kill 44 people? Yep, you’re precious, perfect little franchise drafted a soon to be serial killer. chew on that.

It really should not surprise anyone that he is continuing to deny everything. Thus far that strategy has worked very well for him. Hopefully, the increased testing that he will face by the NFL will include frequent tests during the off-season, since that has been reported as being the time of year when he uses steroids to carry him through the football season. If the NFL clamps down on him enough, it could prevent him from being able to take steriods in the future and then we will see if last year’s performance was only possible due to steroids.

This kid is delusional.
He’s playing the victim card, oh the evil NFL made a bad test that wasn’t accurate, but poor pitiful me, I will ‘respect the process’ and serve my suspension.
BS.
If I knew I hadn’t taken anything and was faced with a 4 game suspension I would fight it.

wow mike, whatever will your kids do now? i guess become liars, as you say Cushing to be…After all a father that relies on athletes to be a role model for his kids can do nothing more.
And before you wonder if i have kids, i do, a son and a daughter. i have no fear of my kids following in athletes foot steps. I am not afraid of them being wrong about role models. That is another life lesson.
Take something from everyone…good, bad, or indifferent.

Really? You’re going to mention Steve Smith in this story. Cushing’s comments are better that Smith’s?
You can hate on Smitty all you want, but it’s b.s. that you compare him to Cushing. He’s one of the smallest players in the league, and didn’t become one of the best players in the league by juicing.
This is the wrong story to take a shot at Smith.

Wow looks like the gauntlet has been thrown. There is no chance that he is going to be under a huge microscope this season especially after stating there will be no production drop at all. Like someone stated above he is either completely right or just delusional. This is the first time I’ve been intrigued by this whole thing.
I went and watched the video of his press conference and there is absolutely no remorse or contrition visible. The whole body full of tumors thing was funny as hell. He’ll never make a good actor…..which means he’ll get all sorts of acting opportunities just like the BOZ

The Wishbone, you can’t be that stupid.
There IS no test for HGH. They cannot detect it yet, so your position must be only drugs that can be detected can be banned? Stupid.
Secondly, hCG is a female hormone that appears only in pregnant females; this the hormone pregnancy tests look for and give a positive result when it’s located.
There is only one reason a healthy adult male would have even a trace amount of it in his system.
Manny Ramirez was banned from baseball for 50 games for just getting caught having a PRESCRIPTION for it.
There is no male cancer or illness treatment for which a doctor will proscribe hCG.
If it’s found in your body and you are a muscular male athlete it’s very presence demonstrates you are attempting to lower your testosterone levels because that would be the only reason you would be taking it.
For Cushing to come out and flatly say he NEVER took any hCG, the NFL test is just wrong means he is claiming the tests can’t be trusted.
Every single guy that has ever been caught blames a ‘bad’ test.

mmdd1111 says:
May 13, 2010 2:50 PM
Anyone who has seen his before and after pictures is an idiot to think he didn’t take steroids. No one gets that much bigger by just lifting.
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If you knew anything about steroids, you’d know that they don’t make you bigger. They help your muscles recover faster from the workout so you can work out more. The bulk is all natural, it just makes it so you can work out more and sooner after your last. I’m not saying one way or another whether Cushing is using steroids, but just because he got big doesn’t mean its because of steroids.

So I guess he was pregnant at the time of the positive test?
Because, according to the Doctor’s, that is a substance that only pregnant women produce at any appreciable level.
He has now confirmed, in my mind at least, that he took steroids in an attempt to heal his knee, then took the hCG to restart his natural Testosterone production (one of the side effects of steroid use is suppression of natural Testosterone) thinking that the stuff would be out of his system before he tested. He was wrong and is paying the price.
Since he’s now presumably in the ‘random testing’ program for the NFL I’d bet a good bit that he comes back from his suspension without the ‘Superman build’.. Just like Danny Noonan in the early 90’s. In college, while he was juicing, Noonan weighed in at 295. After the draft he stopped and reported to the Cowboys as a 265lb DT.

I think the league wants blood testing but the union is adamantly against it because many players do not like needles. A blood test is way more accurate than a urine test.
That being said, Cushing’s name has been mentioned with steroids for a few years now. Where there is smoke there is usually fire.

I can’t believe how many idiots are defending Cushing, taking shots at Florio and taking shots at Goodell.
The guy DID cheat, there is plenty of evidence to support it and Florio is right about the fact that Cushing is spitting in the face of the NFL.
Cushing has been roiding and using HGH since high school, he will drop off after the next CBA includes HGH testing. Just because he cycled off in September doesn’t mean he doesn’t derive a benefit from the steroids. You don’t only get benefits from steroids while you are on them, the effects last a while. The only problem is you can’t keep all the benefits without continually using them.
Florio is justifiably appalled at the way this is being handled, and as always the people criticizing him have revealed their complete and utter ignorance. Only in America do we defend criminals and cheaters, while the rest of the world punishes and scorns them.
Goodell has saved this game from the fate that the NBA and MLB made for themselves. The NBA has their thuggin, gun toting, pot smokin criminals running all over and MLB has the last 25 years of history under fire because of steroids.
Shut your ignorant mouths, keep your useless and incorrect opinions to yourselves and thank people like Goodell and Florio for sticking up for what right in the game.

So he is lying, unless he has a placenta, then its a wash……but again, HCG is not a performance enhancer, unless he does exotic dancing off season along with MMA………its just indicative of something more sinister going on behind the scenes and the NFL knows what this substance is but is protecting its ROY and rep……….they dont want to step in front of congress, believe that.

“he was playing the season clean.”
Uh, that’s not how steroids work. They’re not pep pills. You don’t take them before the game, you take them in the offseason to build muscle or heal injury. The body he played with may have been “clean”, but it had to be “dirty” in the offseason to be the body it was.
“You can’t hide your biases any better than this??”
Florio’s not hiding anything. His bias is plain to see. Florio is a commentator. He rehashes a news item (with links to where it came from, to his credit) and then he interjects his opinion. If you don’t want his opinion, just skip down and click on the links, that may get you to a jounalist.
Seriously, media has gotten so mixed up in this era of infotainment, I don’t think people really know which end is up anymore.

manofaiki says:
May 13, 2010 3:04 PM
There is only one reason a healthy adult male would have even a trace amount of it in his system.
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According to Wikipedia, you’re wrong.
“The normal range for men is between 0-5 IU/ml.” from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_chorionic_gonadotropin

tamparays2010 says:
May 13, 2010 2:47 PM
He took a lie detector test, and passed. I guess that doesn’t account for anything. Not sure what the point of a lie detector test is then..Also, his levels were so low that if it was any other year, he wouldn’t have got in trouble. For those of us that actually workout, we know that almost anything can boost testosterone levels. Some RTD’s I drink boost levels, doing squats for crying out loud boosts testosterone levels. Im almost 100% positive he got suspended for supplementation..Big effing deal. Now, if you catch him shooting oil based steroids up his ass an doing some real hardcore maniac shit, then talk to me
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this is the ONLY post to any Cushing story on PFT that has made a bit of sense
and i agree with you 100%
i bet half the keyboard warriors on this site didnt know that doing squats hard during a workout will make you sick because of the test that it releases, more test in your legs than anywhere in your body

wow…anyone watch the press conference? He STRUGGLED to finish his statement…totally lying….studdered a couple of times….and he was READING a statement….all he had to do was READ and he still studdered….

MANOFAIKI… i’m still sitting here marveling at your own stupidity. I found a third flaw within your moment of genius (besides the obvious spelling errors). hCG can be found in men naturally. There are certain tumors that produce hCG.
In the process of calling someone “stupid”- this chump managed to screw up his entire arguement with fallacies, misspellings and poor punctuation.
DOLT!

so cush is going with the straight up denial approach, im not mad at him… i dont believe him but im not mad at him.
i just hope privately he is addressing whatever issues he may have. i get not admitting guilt if you dont have to but you cant lie to yourself, because then you repeat the same mistakes if you do. i hope he understands that he absolutely cannot test positive again and he HAS to do everything in his power (which mean work his butt off in the weight room and film room) to continue to play at the level he did last season. his play when he comes back will be a huge factor in our defenses sucess next season.

I think he cheated…but you can’t retro this stuff.
IF the AP and the journalists had balls and/or intelligence, they would say:
“From this point forward….”
Otherwise, we have to revisit EVERY award given to “cheaters”, and there have been a lot.
Do we take away Super Bowls, replay games, where does it end?

damn florio, you’re still shell-shocked about steve smith absolutely hosing your sorry-ass all over charlotte radio for twenty minutes that you have to mock the guy in a completely unrelated article? you never should have plucked his name from thin air and made up a story about the guy in the first place, and here you are throwing his name around again like a douche. that’s all fine and good, just make sure you have the balls to speak with him, unlike last week when you pansied out. keep dragging his name through the mud and maybe he will kick your ass…that way you don’t have to use the same suckerpunch reference from two years ago every time you mention carolina.

mmdd1111 says: May 13, 2010 2:50 PM
Anyone who has seen his before and after pictures is an idiot to think he didn’t take steroids. No one gets that much bigger by just lifting
============================
And any idiot who believes everything they see on the internet needs to have their ‘license’ revoked.
I could do absolutely wonderful things with Photoshop with just 1 picture of you and pass it around the internet and watch you life turn upside down, to where the only way out is going all emo.
Moral is don’t believe everything you read or see on the internet. Want proof? Read Florio.

Why are you guys defending the Cheater? He got caught. Plain and simple. NFL will not take lightly with Cushing wagging his middle finger at them. Cush is done. You mark my word. He is done. The NFL will be all over his a$$ and he wont have the juice to back him up anymore.

My question is…
Where is the evidence here that proves steroid use. Ignorant people are simply reading the biased press releases and spoutingoff about steroids when none has ever been shown to have been used. This kid could have tested positive for “slightly elevated” levels of a natural hormone for about a thousand reasons, and only one of those reasons could be steroid related? What ever happened to giving s guy the benefit of the doubt?
$0.02,
–Z

NoRingsForYou says:
May 13, 2010 3:56 PM
I”ve got an idea – everyone who blames Florio for reports they don’t like should stop visiting the site. Go become an ESPN Insider and get all your information there.
===========================
That’s a great idea- how incredibly interesting it would be to see post after post agreeing with Florio and kissing his ass. *eyes rolling*

“He took a lie detector test, and passed. I guess that doesn’t account for anything. ”
Um…he *says* he took a lie detector and passed. There has been no external confirmation of that story. Seriously, do you believe everything somebody tells you?

Maybe he’s guilty, but given his strong stance and passed lie detector, I’d say he has more credibility than the NFL, who recently was proven to know a substance was tainted with something that would show up as a failed test as a steroid masking agent, yet declined the opportunity to make the players aware. Instead, it opted to use it as a ‘gotcha’ moment.
Let’s say that again. THE NFL MADE A CHOICE TO EXPLOIT THEIR SYSTEM TO PUNISH PLAYERS FOR A TECHNICALITY.

Why did the league test him to begin with? But besides that unless he is a chick he is guilty and anyone who knows anything about taking roids will tell you that you take that after your done with your cycle in order to stimulate your natural testosterone-just ask Jose

He took a lie detector test where the question was: were you suspended for taking a steroid?
His answer was No. End of test. He knew he was suspended for hCG. If he played 2009 thinking he had tumors, then he must have a wealth of tests and doctor reports since October that show a record of his concerns and results. Where is the doctor to come forward and support Cushing’s contention that he feared tumors? His denial was just part of a PR spin once they realized that high level of hCG can also result from testicular cancer. Ahhhhh…what a great excuse.

The NFL testing process is a very inaccuate science. Cushing is probably guilty but the sequence of events do not add up so like any other court of law and opinion there has to be overwhelming evidence and in this case it does exist beyond a reasonable doubt ! Cush ,take the 4 games to get yourself clean, assuming you are ?? Then hit the weights

It’s not that inconceivable that he was concerned that he had cancer, at least initially. I had cancer a year ago and HCG was how they measured the presence of the tumor and the effectiveness of my chemo. I do wonder if he used that as an excuse or if he actually did go to a doctor to get tested.

OK, so his excuse is that he thinks he has testicular cancer. That spin will save his sorry ass, eh? Be careful for what you wish, Brian. Maybe your balls are falling off after years of steroid use – no wonder he is concerned.

Why did the league test him to begin with? But besides that unless he is a chick he is guilty and anyone who knows anything about taking roids will tell you that you take that after your done with your cycle in order to stimulate your natural testosterone-just ask Jose

“Profanity in ALL CAPS says:
May 13, 2010 2:57 PM
Jimmy Smith
did you know the Packers drafted Randall Woodfield, who eventually went on to kill 44 people? Yep, you’re precious, perfect little franchise drafted a soon to be serial killer. chew on that.”
And this has what to do with Brian Cushing? What an idiot!

People seem to ignore the possibility that he didn’t do anything wrong intentionally. They ignore that perhaps he couldn’t come up with one thing that he took that could have contained it.
He passed a lie detector test (allegedly). While those aren’t 100% by any means I’d say it is at least a little nugget of proof.
I am wondering why the majority of players busted never have any roids in them. Is it just super easy to hide the roids with other crap that shows up? Or is perhaps the NFL system only good at catching people that unintentionally, or even unknowingly, take stuff while all the roiders are able to get away with stuff.
Seriously, more guys with other stuff than roids sounds like a broken system to me. Just saying.

Out of politeness, let’s ignore that in the last paragraphs Florio tried to make this story about himself. Pathetic, Florio, pathetic! You are soooo important now! Oh my. Maybe you have not so much influence on the earth’s rotation as you believe.
We should make a chart that takes into account two variables: (1) volume of steroids to play well, and (2) volume of self prostitution to sell yourself. Cushing is to illegal drugs as Florio is to shameless self promotion. Same thing, right?
Cushing has been a child of privileged obsequiousness (whooo, needed some spell check on those things) all his life. Put yourself in his shoes. He’s asked for the first time in his life to imagine that he was wrong, that he cheated, that if other people had done what he did…. well, maybe then they might be getting the frigging rookie of the year prize.
Mentally, he’s just a child. Like 9, maybe 10. Maybe he’s getting the message. Maybe we’ll have a soapbox derby with Cushing’s car loaded with ego and drugs, and Florio’s loaded with ego and manipulative self-righteousness.

Chapnasty2 says: May 13, 2010 3:09 PM
Wow, I wish there was an actual way to prove he took something.
____________________________________
You mean like a,.. um,.. test?! Like the kind he failed.
Wow, ur dumb.

Why are you foaming at the mouth over Cushing Florio? You have reported on dozens of violations of the PED policy but this one has your panties in a twist to the point that you are ignoring objective information that is relevant to the whole fiasco. Information such as Julius Peppers who failed a drug test during the season he won the award.
I don’t really care about the Cushing situation one way or the other but I am baffled as to why you are simply ignoring the Julius Peppers precedent.
Julius Peppers Julius Peppers Julius Peppers Julius Peppers Julius Peppers Julius Peppers Julius Peppers Julius Peppers Julius Peppers Julius Peppers

BleedGreen says:
May 13, 2010 3:08 PM
If you knew anything about steroids, you’d know that they don’t make you bigger. They help your muscles recover faster from the workout so you can work out more. The bulk is all natural, it just makes it so you can work out more and sooner after your last. I’m not saying one way or another whether Cushing is using steroids, but just because he got big doesn’t mean its because of steroids.
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Uhh… Yes, steroids absolutely make you bigger. In addition to that, they also allow your body to recover faster.

Nice little shot you took there at Steve Smith at the end of that article Florio. Have you not already proved how much of a coward you were with the Steve Smith incident? By still taking shots at him you are just digging yourself deeper and deeper. Why dont you just come out and say ” Hi I’m Mike Florio and I will talk shit about whoever I want behind this little here computer, but by no means will I ever meet you in person to back it up”. I hope that one of these players that you run your mouth about finally see you out somewhere, and beat the piss out of you because you really do need it!